What do you need help with in Shadespire? Like more hobby focused articles or ones talking about products for the game? Have your say today!

My last article about my competitive progress within the game seemed to gather a small bit of negative reception on Facebook. I’d like to clarify that if I came across as bragging/egotistical, that wasn’t my intent. My competitive focus articles on my progress in the game are half the reason I started the blog. I post it up to remind myself of how far I’ve come, how well I’m doing in tournaments and also to show people I know what I’m talking about when it comes to tactics and advice as well as making me more credible (no point telling people how to improve or help if you never test out your advice first). This was mentioned even in my first blog post. Now I know some people may not want to hear about the competitive side of Shadespire but it’s a big part of the game and what I do.

Now you may ask if a vocal minority kicked up a fuss, why bring it up? The simple reason is the people unhappy with competitive focused articles said they wanted more tips and advice with the game, which is totally fine. A big part of my blog is taking feedback as I’m always open to questions and requests (see: my contacts section). My problem came when those that replied to my questions of what they wanted help with all had the same phrase:

“Show Me Your Deck List”

This is probably my biggest peeve with the community. I get it, the game has a big relationship with cards and even publishes winning decks from Grand Clashes. Obviously there must be some relation to card choice and win rate. The problem is, as I’ve repeated in most of my articles, Shadespire is all about movement and positioning.

The only time ‘net decks’ worked was during the Katophrane Relic era before the beta rules but that dark period is behind us now.

While cards are important, they are only there to help you achieve your objectives. When I go through full warband profiles (see my Warband Deconstruction series) only 1 part of that 3 part article focuses on the deck. While I may run some cards that most people do as well, I’ve never won a game because I’ve played Quick Thinker or Great Concussion (quite the opposite, in fact).

If you’re only relying on deck lists to win games, you’ll never do well in Shadespire

Decks are all tailored to suit the player running it. I could pick up any top deck that has won a Grand Clash and maybe do well with it but that comes down more to my long experience in the game. Generally, I’d expect not to do well with it because it’s not designed to suit how I play.

Now if you’re using ‘net decks’ as a basis to play off of, that’s fine. Some of the greatest feedback I’ve gotten is when people have told me that they’ve taken the decks I’ve used/written up and altered it to suit how they play, in some cases they’ve even completely re-written it! This is due to the fact that they played with the original version and found that it didn’t work for them at all. It’s not because they are bad players or anything but because I play completely differently to most people.

People have then asked me to tell them how to play it but once again that is far too much to cover and basically gives away how I play, which is something I can’t really do. It’s why I always advise players to check out my deck building article and the warband deconstruction series.

Where’s the help then?

After all of that then, you may be asking where is the help this article is supposed to be offering? Well the main thing is don’t get so hung up on the cards, work on improving your movement, positioning and set-up. “Show me your deck” has become a bit of a running joke down where I play along with a lot of other players but it’s mainly because we can’t really help if all you ask is for deck lists.

Now I’m happy to write-up articles based on whatever people find they have difficulties in with the game. My only issue is that people need to tell me what those issues are as I’m not psychic.

I’m always happy to take feedback and suggestions (I regularly encourage it too). I do plan to create more Warband Deconstruction articles in the future as even though they weren’t that popular I have received a lot of requests for more.

The problem when doing warband profiles is that I always see a warband as more than just the deck and deployment/positioning, they are so varied and huge to cover depending on how you play that particular force. If I just wrote out decks for everyone, I’d feel like I wouldn’t really be helping anyone at all. Yet I can’t also tell you how to play it exactly due to the time needed to do so and effort required as well.

So yes, please tell me what you need help with in the game and I’d be more than happy to help. Just remember I probably won’t be able to help if all you want is a deck list (I even wrote an article touching on why I won’t share my deck list when I’m practicing for a Grand Clash).

I have a wide backcatalog of articles for help too such as my deck building post which you can all to check out. When making requests, I can even cover complex and/or popular issues on my monthly podcast with Rob from the Honest Wargamer (there will be more soon 😭).

Don’t forget that I’m always happy to talk at events in-person as well if you’re there and in fact I regularly do. Face-to-face I can explain things more clearly as well as help go through things like deck improvement, positioning and how my warband works with my style of play.

Once again I’d like to thank all the readers and fans I’ve helped along the way. Your feedback online and in person at events is always great to hear. I’m glad I’ve been able to help so many people from every corner of the world, it makes doing this that more rewarding and I’d love to continue helping as you guys are the best. It’s even more important than rolling crits 😉

I’m not sure if this would be too general, but something which I think could be useful would be a series on general play styles rather than focusing on factions.

I see many new players completely at a loss when starting out, as how to play the game beyond the starter is not obvious. Shadespire offers so many ways to build a warband to win, but there aren’t really any resources explaining how those win conditions work.

For example, how an objectives-based warband works:
* How should your deck be built to ensure efficiency at getting to points and staying on them? (not specific cards, more themes like how much push is useful)
* How do you play against an aggressive deck? (when should you wait, when do you go into action)
* How do you play against another defensive deck?
* etc.

I’d define your spectacularly successful Skaven as an aggressive leader-based warband. I have played a list very similar to it, and it took me a while to learn when to play cautiously with it so Skritch didn’t die too early. I could use those lessons to build something similar in Magore’s Fiends!

That’s pretty much what my Warband Deconstruction series is about. I focus on different builds of warbands and how they play.

The other stuff is too general and broad I’m afraid. It also heavily differs depending on what warband you are running.

Haha thanks but my Skaven have evolved beyond that playstyle now although I won’t be covering them because I still run the rats. Some things are just too difficult/long to explain so it may be something I look into when I start doing videos.

Hello, first and foremost, thank you for this blog, it has been very informative and entertaining.
I think more of your Warband Deconstruction would be great, can’t get enough of that, so would be, for example, an examination of the though process you put in choosing boards or matching boards.( I’d be especially interested in how you try to mitigate losing the option to match boards.) Any writing about game theory would be sweet.
I realise that there’s a tension between the interest in informing and sharing and not open all your game since you want to be a competitive player so I understand if I’m asking something unrealistic, but anyway that’s what i would look foward to.